Columbus Ka-band Terminal Arrives at ISS

Aerospace and Defense Review | Friday, February 28, 2020

According to the European Space Agency (ESA), the high-speed radio link of the device will be used to transmit scientific data to stations in Europe and the world that are eagerly waiting to lay their hands on the latest test results from their experiments

Fremont, CA: A new communications antenna named the Columbus Ka-band Terminal (COLKa), arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on a Cygnus supply ship, making it the first industrial contribution from the U.K. to the ISS. The device will be installed later this year right outside the Columbus module, the ISS's science laboratory. This new device will enable astronauts to communicate with Earth at home broadband speeds. The contract for designing and building the device was awarded to MDA Space and Robotics Limited, a global communications and information company based in Harwell, Oxfordshire.

“The COLKa programme has firmly established MDA in the U.K. as a leading provider of high-quality space equipment, positioning us for continued business growth and new jobs in both communications and space sensor markets,” said David Kenyon, managing director at MDA U.K. The installation of the device will require astronauts to step out of the ISS on a spacewalk and mount it on the module's meteoroids protection panel, and also connect the wires to the unit before it is turned on.

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According to the European Space Agency (ESA), the high-speed radio link of the device will be used to transmit scientific data to stations in Europe and the world that are eagerly waiting to lay their hands on the latest test results from their experiments. The Columbus Ka-band Terminal will also be used to send signals from the ISS, which orbits at an altitude of 155 miles above the surface of the Earth, farther into space where they will be picked up by European satellites 22,000 miles above the surface of the Earth.

"This is yet another example of the U.K. economy benefiting, through investment, jobs and new skills, from our continued collaboration with the European Space Agency,” said Dr Graham Turnock, chief executive of the U.K. Space Agency. The knowledge gained by the U.K. Space Agency in building the COLKa can be further used for another communications package under design for the Lunar Gateway, a small spaceship that is being constructed to orbit around the moon.

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